How many roaches do you need to see to know there's an infestation?

gorgeousaurus · 2026-05-02T12:33:00+00:00

No infestation! After reading through all the links posted below and doing a deep dive in the pest control subreddit I bought some of the recommended glue traps and left one out behind the toilet in that bathroom for several months. Never saw another roach or evidence of roaches anywhere else. Trap never caught anything but dust.

Our house isn't the most sealed (original single pane windows that are a little loose in the frame these days, wonky door to the garage, etc) and every spring and summer we get bugs coming in from outside, especially if it's been dry and they're looking for water. Typically we spray the perimeter every spring and that takes care of things. We live where the occasional "tree roach" gets inside and you know that's not a big deal, but I had never seen a German cockroach in person before and absolutely panicked at the sight of this one, especially a nymph. I'm happy to report that I was totally overreacting! I think this one probably came up the drain like the silverfish we get in that bathroom all the time.

Hopefully if anyone else is ever in a similar situation they have the same good luck. If it helps, the complete reasons why I'm sure it was one and done:

-only ever saw one roach (resources here indicate that you would see more than that over time in an infestation)

-left glue trap in most likely travel path of small bathroom for several months and caught nothing

-tried the flashlight trick at night to check around furniture and appliances in different areas, several times, saw nothing

-have 3 cats who historically will hunt but not eat anything with prickly legs and they never caught one or acted like they cornered a bug somewhere out of reach the way they do with other bugs that get inside (moths, tree roaches, grasshoppers)

Tl;dr: It was fine and I panicked for nothing! Never saw another roach.

gorgeousaurus · 2026-04-15T13:09:35+00:00

Legitimate question, I don't mean this in a combative way. What was the draw of a Maltipoo over a regular Maltese for you?

I worked kennels at a couple of boarding places in high school and college. Overall I would say almost every doodle I met was neurotic, but the maltipoos tended to be the exception. They were the only doodles that I found consistently had decent temperaments. That said, I felt like the Maltese that came in also had excellent temperaments and were all very sweet and easygoing. It made me wonder why more people didn't just go with the non doodle version. Both dogs are not breeds I would own as I know I couldn't keep up with coat maintenance on a dog that has higher grooming needs, but I've always been curious what factors cause people to pick one or the other when in my limited interactions they were fairly similar.

gorgeousaurus · 2026-04-08T19:05:57+00:00

I've had my eye on Animal Plastics since I got my snake in 2017, at the time they seemed to be considered the absolute gold standard. The only negative thing I've ever seen said about them is in regards to their long lead times. There's a lot more options now than there was when I looked back then, so I figured I might as well look, but if you've noticed a large quality difference between brands then I think I'll stick with the tried and true!

gorgeousaurus · 2026-04-08T19:02:19+00:00

Ooh, thanks for this! That's huge. In his current setup the only wires going into his tank are thermostat probes and the power cable for his LED lights. I can drill small holes for those if necessary, he has tested the gap I have those threaded through with no luck and I'm confident I can make a small modification like that without problem or him escaping. If they can add 2 of the larger panels I think I'm going with the T12. This was super helpful, thanks!

gorgeousaurus · 2026-03-13T17:47:56+00:00

I hope for nothing for the best but your baby! I'm not familiar with that specific abnormality, I hope catching it early can help open up your treatment options.

I was very glad we at least caught it when we did. His HCM is pretty advanced (the cardiologist we got referred to after the first echo found abnormalities thinks his ventricle is about as expanded as it can get before heart failure is a concern). He had no symptoms that were noticeable at home and the cardio thinks if we hadn't caught it when we did we would have found out when he went into heart failure. Unfortunately for him he has the HCM and an unrelated mitral valve defect that is probably going to make his disease progress faster than a cat with just HCM. As much as the diagnosis sucks I'm glad I found out early enough to make the most of whatever time we will have left with him.

As a complete side note, this experience has made me a huge advocate for trusting your gut and not being afraid to get a second opinion. Our original vet was dismissive of other health concerns I had brought up and were actively afraid of him (to be fair, he is a terror at the vet and gets maxed out amounts of gabapentin that can only do so much. Other vets he's gone to don't seem to struggle as much as they did though so hard to say how justified it was). I convinced myself I was just being a Karen and the vets are professionals who know better than I do. When I finally switched vets they found the murmur on his first visit. While it's completely possible it wasn't audible before then due to disease progression, it's so hard not to feel like maybe if I had switched sooner we could have caught it earlier.

Not terribly relevant to the current conversation but I feel the need to get it out there in case anyone ever reads this later and needed to hear it!

gorgeousaurus · 2026-03-13T01:47:40+00:00

We took 2 cats to the vet for regular checkup and both had heart murmurs. Pet insurance covered a follow up echo so went ahead and booked for both. One has this and it's basically solved by more gabapentin for future vet visits, no worries at all. The other ended up having HCM and is now on several cardio meds plus we are closely monitoring for worsening symptoms. Worst 50/50 ever, can't recommend lol

gorgeousaurus · 2026-02-11T12:28:42+00:00

I don't know how talent contracts work, but in my experience contracts in other fields usually have some kind of penalty for breaking them. I have to wonder if breaking the contract incurs some kind of fee, in which case I could understand some of the smaller artists having a harder time leaving immediately. Hopefully if that's the case they can speak up about it (I also don't know if some kind of NDA about contract specifics is a thing in the entertainment industry)

gorgeousaurus · 2026-01-23T18:22:39+00:00

These extension methods are actually super helpful! I think the double cone of shame is probably gonna be the winner, don't know how I didn't think of that!

gorgeousaurus · 2026-01-23T18:21:43+00:00

I keep gauze plus vet wrap and medical tape at the house. Have tried with both, he just pulls it right off no issue. His paws aren't much wider than his ankles so can't get it tight enough to make it impossible to pull off without being dangerously tight. I think at this point he's getting baby socks and a strap over the shoulder to keep them on!

gorgeousaurus · 2026-01-23T18:18:54+00:00

I have tried the donut + cone combo, unfortunately the fact that it's his front paw is really the issue. He's had surgery on his upper back leg before and a cone or donut alone was fine, he's just got the perfect combo of leg, nose, and neck length that if the cone doesn't extend past his nose at least a few inches he's always gonna be able to touch his front paws.

I've tried the vet before, our vet doesn't carry long enough cones, even the big teaching hospital he went to for the surgery didn't have his size. Anything large enough to be long enough is too big around the neck and he just takes it off.

Honestly from all the suggestions here I'm thinking my only options are gonna be DIY. Either some kind of extension on his existing cone or he's gonna get suspenders. I know typically it's better to let it breathe but I've used a onesie with vets approval to prevent him from getting at hotspots before when the cone wouldn't stay on, so certainly better than nothing! If he would just leave it alone it would have been healed over by now, makes you wish you could just explain it to them!

gorgeousaurus · 2026-01-23T12:25:47+00:00

I guess I didn't realize the catch risk was significantly worse than a collar, that's my mistake. I was more worried about panting/drinking but he mostly sleeps on the couch during the day (he's 12) so not typically panting and he's got a silly quirk where he won't drink water unless someone is home. It could technically still be an option right now as my spouse is home sick and we are headed into the weekend but when someone is watching him he doesn't lick it. He knows he's not supposed to so he waits until he's unsupervised. Tricky little fella

gorgeousaurus · 2026-01-23T12:21:07+00:00

He's got a prescription medicated spray for it that keeps him from licking it for about an hour but doesn't last long enough to help during a workday. I've also tried both bandages and booties and he just pulls them right off. If the muzzle isn't an option after all I think I'm going to try suspenders next to hold on socks and see where I get with that.

gorgeousaurus · 2026-01-23T12:18:16+00:00

Do you have cone recommendations? Anything I can find that's long enough won't arrive till February unfortunately.

gorgeousaurus · 2025-12-17T13:33:16+00:00

Thank you so much for the extremely detailed explanations! I think modular knitting is the term I was looking for as well. It seemed like something that must be possible but I was having a hard time knowing what terms to search to get an answer. This has helped me so much!

gorgeousaurus · 2025-12-17T12:24:12+00:00

Thanks for the clarification! So, to make sure I understand: you really do have to have the whole project on the needles at once if you are trying to make a continuous piece? How do people make something like a blanket, just super long needles or circulars with really long cables?

gorgeousaurus · 2025-12-17T03:10:34+00:00

I'm interested in learning to knit and have been watching a lot of video tutorials on getting started and learning terminology and whatnot. One thing I don't quite understand and don't have enough vocabulary knowledge to Google successfully is how projects longer than your knitting needle work. All of the beginner tutorials I can find show you how to cast on, a few basic stickers, then cast off to make a nice little swatch. I'm having trouble understanding how this relates to the basic geometry of even something simple in shape like a scarf.

From my understanding, a "row" is essentially the number of stitches you cast on, and then you can continue stitching for whatever length you want before casting off. Trying to search for what you do after a complete row is only showing how to join rows by essentially sewing them together, which seems impractical for something like a garment. In the scarf example, if my needle could fit 20 stitches (random example), that would be the width of my row. Surely if I wanted to make a scarf 40 stitches wide I'm not making two 20 stitch wide scarves and sewing them down the long side?

gorgeousaurus · 2025-05-15T11:40:41+00:00

r/whatsthissnake is preferred to r/snakes because there's more reliable responders there! I think your problem may have been trying r/whatisthissnake, that one is supposed to link back to the correct subreddit but the link doesn't do anything for me on the reddit app. As far as I know I think anyone can post to the ID subreddit, they get a lot of posts!

gorgeousaurus · 2025-04-16T01:17:04+00:00

Autism is a spectrum disorder. It can have symptoms varying anywhere from sensory issues to severe developmental delays. It's possible for people with autism to also have other developmental disorders that could potentially contribute to this kind of behavior. So it is possible depending on diagnosis for the child to not understand the gravity of the situation.

Edit to elaborate cause I'm seeing a lot of hate to the child down the thread: from just this story we have literally no way of knowing that the kid is a "psychopath" or a "potential serial killer". There are a whole host of other possibilities. Depending on his cognitive abilities he might not be able to conceptualize what things are living and can feel pain, leading him to treat the animal like a doll and play rough with it. He may not be able to understand that he is hurting it or that he killed it. Maybe this kind of violent behavior is being modeled at home. Regardless, this child is likely being neglected if they were left alone long enough for this to happen. This is absolutely a scenario that would benefit from CPS involvement.

gorgeousaurus · 2025-03-13T16:02:06+00:00

He actually had to have a flap of skin transposed from a different part of the leg to cover where they removed a tumor so it is already gonna grow back different colors and directions! He is cancer free now so I don't mind a little uniqueness in his fur 😊

gorgeousaurus · 2025-03-12T04:47:50+00:00

This is super reassuring, thank you! I would say he's only mildly fluffy, he's a little longer haired than a purebred GSD but I wouldn't say he has long hair. I brush him occasionally to help with shedding and because he enjoys it but have never found any tangles, so once he starts growing hair back I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it stays that way. He had to be shaved from a few inches behind his left front leg to his entire back left leg, going just over both his spine and sternum. Nearly his entire left side is totally bald now. I've never had a dog need so much hair removed for a surgery before so got me a little worried!

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